Overview
This teaching examines “Anticipating God” through Micah 7, Psalm 37, Psalm 25, Psalm 27, showing how wait, christ, things shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Transcript
Understanding Anticipating God
Good morning, everyone. God bless y’all. Some things that have been very much on my mind, and I just thought I’d put a few things together for you.
For me, I’ve been endeavoring to start my day with walking. There’s a little place here inside the city that they made as a greenway. And since we’ve had so much rain, everything is very lush and very beautiful.
I was walking the other day and I was looking at the immensity of what God has done just in my short little walk. And the thousands of different kinds of trees, leaves, and grasses, and plants coming up, and all the different birds, and the different things that are going on in our world that emanate and show us who God is. And he’s infinitely diversified.
He’s infinitely showing us his grace, his love, his care, and the way he has prepared the earth for each and every one of us. Sometimes I believe that in our heads, in mine anyway, I see God so big and so immense and so powerful that I think, you know, well, is he really hearing me? Is he really involved in each moment of my life? But I know that that is true because of how he cares for me in the smallest and the largest things in my life. God will make his way eminent to us as we look to him in all categories of life.
And it’s a matter of how we perceive God and how he works so individually. Just as he formed each individual tree and each individual leaf, it’s the same way with us. God has made us so unique that he cares for each and every detail of our lives in every category, whether it’s spiritual, mental, physical, emotional, in our relationships and how we care for one another and how we take care of the things that we steward.
So many things God shows us how to deal with things in minute detail because of his wisdom and his infinite grace. And as we identify with the finished work of Jesus Christ and know that we have the faith of Jesus Christ that supersedes all of natural law, all of physical law, God is able to heal, to care, to show us so many different categories of his dealing with us in his wisdom. And I’ve come across this verse in Micah, if you want to turn to Micah chapter 7, Jonah, Micah, Names, or I’ll just read it to you if you can’t find it, but I’ll read it to you, and it’s Jonah, I mean Micah 7, verse 7. There’s a lot of turbulence going on with what Micah is sharing, but here in verse 7, regardless of what’s going on and how dark the time was around him, in verse 7 he says, Therefore I will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me.
We are to wait on the Lord to see that God does hear us. When John asked me what I wanted to teach on, I thought, well, I’m teaching on anticipating God. In our lives, we need to anticipate God in ways in which we want to see results.
We want to know that God hears our prayer, that he’s ready to move as he sets up situations for us. So I looked up the word anticipate in my trusty Webster’s, and I’m going to read it to you. There’s various ways in which you can look at the word to anticipate.
The Biblical Foundation
To anticipate is to give advanced thought or discussion or treatment to deal with in advance. To meet an obligation before a due date. To foresee and deal with something in advance, to forestall it.
To use or expend in advance of actual possession. To act before another, often so as to check or counteract. To look forward to ascertain anticipation.
It’s used in the use of money before it is available, especially the taking or alignment of the income of a trusted state before it is due. A prior action that takes into account or forestalls a later action. The act of looking forward to a specific pleasurable expectation.
And it’s the visualization of a future event or state. We anticipate Christ’s return. We set our lives in alignment with that hope.
As we look to God and we wait upon him, he continues to show us, teach us, show us the greatness of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our guide.
He is our moral compass. He is the way unto the Father. Jesus Christ, if you look through the Gospels, you see him endlessly going to the Father.
In trial, in different situations where he’s being tried, he’s being tempted, he’s got mental pressure, he’s got all these things coming at him. And he goes to the Father, gets the wisdom he needs, and moves on. And that’s the way we are to live.
We anticipate God in action, whether it’s to make a counterpoint or whether it’s to show us the pleasurable end in which we see our inheritance. You know, God will continue to open up our eyes of understanding as we look to him. He’s a loving, heavenly Father who created the heavens and the earth for us to enjoy.
He called us to his grace. He called us by name intimately before the foundations of the world. His love is ever amounting and always ready to give us what we need, always ready to give us an answer so that we can be confident in our walk, knowing who we are and how we are to walk with him each and every day.
Examples and Spiritual Lessons
In Psalm 37 7, I did a teaching a while back on fret not, and this is still one of my favorite go-to scriptures here in Psalm 37 7. It says, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Peace from anger and forsake wrath.
Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. We overcome evil with good. We don’t get weary in our well-doing.
There’s been situations at my work that has been very trying. I work in a flower shop and some of the things that have transpired have been very, there’s been a lot of mental pressure for me in different situations. But God has seen me through.
And as I continue to put on the love of God and continue to bless others with the ability and the knowledge that I’ve had over the last 40 years in this particular way, I don’t identify myself as the florist. I identify myself as what can I do as God and Christ in me at work? How can I make that evident? How can I continue to identify with what Jesus Christ accomplished for me? And when I looked up that word wait, I shared this when I did the fret not teaching. It has the connotations of a woman giving birth.
And it also has a connotation of to whirl. And sometimes the adversary will whirl the things around us to keep us distracted. But as we wait, wait patiently, we will see God’s hand in our lives.
In verse 9, it says, for evildoers shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. In Psalm 25, 1, we see another verse on waiting. A lot of our anticipating God is to wait on him until it’s all you want to do is see the baby.
You want to know, you want to see the fruit of what God has in store for us as we pray and look to him for answers in our life. The adversary will try to whirl things around us. But God wants us to know that we shall absolutely 100% inherit the earth because it’s ours.
And in verse 25, at verse 1, it says unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. In verse 5, lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all the day.
Faith in Action
Isn’t that great? I mean, it’s just amazing to me when I see these words. I’m going to read in the Passion Bible. And I want you to see it’s got the definition of this word wait here.
And in the Passion Bible, in Psalm 25, it’s a great little footnote here, which really blessed me when I was going through some of these things. It’s an added insight into that word wait. It’s an acrostic psalm.
And let’s see here. In verse 5 of Psalm 25, where it says, lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all the day.
In the Passion Bible, verse 5, does it escort me into your truth. Take me by the hand and teach me for you are the God of my salvation, my wholeness. I have wrapped my heart into you all day long.
In the footnote, it says, Psalm 25, verses 25 to 39, are 15 poetic psalms about bringing pure worship before God. And the Hebrew word most commonly translated as wait, it’s wait upon the Lord. I don’t know if I’m saying this right, but quavah, Q-A-V-A-H, which also means to tie together by twisting or to entwine or to wrap tightly.
This is a beautiful concept of waiting upon God, not passively, but entwining our heart with him and his purposes. That’s what we want to do. We want to entwine our heart with our heavenly father so that we are entwined with his purposes and not our own.
It’s easy to get into God in God’s way when we’re anticipating, you know, let me do this. And God’s telling you, no, go this way. And you’re going the opposite way.
When the full deliverance is in listening to God and having him in our heart and having our hearts entwined with him, that he is our heavenly father that keeps us wrapped tightly together with him. Verse 14 in Psalm 25 is the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him or that respect him. And he will show them his covenant.
God has made a covenant with us in which we have insight into his word. He will enlighten the eyes of our understanding as it tells us so in Ephesians. When we look to him, when we entwine our hearts with him in Psalm 27, it’s all through the Psalms, how to wait on the Lord, to trust God, to come to pass, to bring things to pass for us.
Walking in Love and Confidence
And in verse 27, chapter 27, let’s see, chapter 27, verses 13 and 14. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord. God will strengthen our hearts. That is the center of our very being.
God will continue to show us who he is, and he will entwine himself with us. He will keep us at the center of his very being. We are the apple of his eye.
Go back to Psalm 37, and in Psalm 37, verse 34, it says, Wait on the Lord and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. We don’t have to be concerned about, we’re aware of the evil that goes on around us, but that’s not what our focus is.
Our focus is on the Lord. We focus on waiting for him and to expect earnestly. We are to expect earnestly God to bring to pass the deliverance we desire to see in our own lives, in our community, in our neighbors, in our cities, and in our states, in our countries, wherever we may be from.
We want to see God’s deliverance in bigger and better ways when we wait in hope. We wait as a woman giving birth. We wait entwining our lives with God.
We’re anticipating God to work in all these different situations. Philippians chapter 1, verse 20. It’s time for us to be patient and to see God’s hand in so many categories of our lives.
Philippians chapter 1, verse 20, says, According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain, but if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, and yet what I shall choose I want not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.
Applying the Teaching in Daily Life
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance in the joy of faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Each one of us has the ability to bring the joy of the knowledge of God to each and every person around us and to learn from others also.
We’re looking away to, in verse 20, that’s what that word means, we’re looking away to see Christ, to see his coming, to see the hope, but yet we live in this time of many trials and many situations that may not be pleasant. Sometimes they are. There’s great joy in life also.
But as we continue to look towards the hope and we wait on the Lord, entwining our hearts with him, God gives us the verses that we need. In Ephesians, it talks in verses 17 and 18, our eyes will be enlightened. In Romans 8, 1 and 2, we’re bound together with our Heavenly Father.
Go to Romans 8, Romans chapter 8, verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. We have the ability to know that God has forgiven us.
He continues to show us his grace in our lives because of what Jesus Christ accomplished, not because of what we’ve accomplished. It’s the grace that we have to walk and talk with the Heavenly Father, with our hearts entwined with him, waiting on him, waiting for the answers that we need in life. In so many categories, God has given us the light of his word to walk with.
Verses 34 in chapter 8. Who is he that condemneth? Is it Christ that died? Yea, rather, that is risen again. What was the first thing in chapter 8, verse 1? There is no condemnation. Verse 34.
Who is he that condemneth? Sometimes our own hearts, our own hearts tend to stop us from, we’re not doing enough, we’re not saying enough, we’re not going. There’s so many times where I’ve had time on my hands and I’ll say, God, what do you want me to do? And they’ll say, relax. To me, that is a big deal, to relax and to be still and to know that God is the one who is at work.
And many times, like the other day, I was telling John this incident the other day, I needed to return something to Walgreens. And I was doing things around the house and I was getting ready to go and I kept hesitating. I didn’t feel like, well, I’m going to go and then I would hesitate and find something else to do or get distracted from the task.
And finally I went when I was comfortable with going. And I got in my car and I went and as I’m checking out, I hear a voice behind me and it’s my neighbor from next door. And she says, can I help you? And I turned around and I started laughing.
A Life Shaped by God’s Word
She said, well, why is it that you’re my next door neighbor and I have to meet you in town before I can see you? And I said, well, I almost crashed your party the other day. I saw a bunch of cars in front of your house. And she said, please do.
It’s a Bible study with some older ladies. So the next week when it was my day off, I knocked on her door and I went over there and I had great fellowship with these four other ladies. And it’s just been a blessing to my life and that was right next door.
But if I hadn’t waited until I went to Walgreens, I wouldn’t have run into her. And sometimes life is like that. We just need to be patient with ourselves and patient with seeing God at work when you’re at peace and knowing that now it’s time to move.
In Philippians 2, verse 13, we see that it’s God and Christ in us, working in us. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. That is our joy in walking with the Father, is knowing, seeing those little things where God is at work in the minutest ways in our lives so that we can have joy as we face the adversity that’s all around us.
The world is evil. That is not our identity. We identify with who we are in Christ, that we don’t have to condemn ourselves.
We’re not endeavoring to be saved by works. We’re saved by grace and we share that grace with one another. We help each other to anticipate what God has in store for us.
We anticipate our inheritance, that trust fund that is due. We can bank on it. We’re taking advantage of what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us, what he has set up for us, past, present, and future.
And it’s great to be able to anticipate God in every situation we find ourselves in. Sure love you all and thanks for listening.
Key Takeaways
- A lot of our anticipating God is to wait on him until it’s all you want to do is see the baby.
- You want to know, you want to see the fruit of what God has in store for us as we pray and look to him for answers in our life.
- We want to see God’s deliverance in bigger and better ways when we wait in hope.
- But as we continue to look towards the hope and we wait on the Lord, entwining our hearts with him, God gives us the verses that we need.
- As we look to God and we wait upon him, he continues to show us, teach us, show us the greatness of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main message of “Anticipating God”?
This teaching examines “Anticipating God” through Micah 7, Psalm 37, Psalm 25, Psalm 27, showing how wait, christ, things shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Which scriptures are central to this teaching?
The teaching draws especially from Micah 7, Psalm 37, Psalm 25, Psalm 27, Philippians 1.
How can believers apply this teaching?
But as we continue to look towards the hope and we wait on the Lord, entwining our hearts with him, God gives us the verses that we need.
Scripture References
Micah 7; Psalm 37; Psalm 25; Psalm 27; Philippians 1; Romans 8
This text was prepared from the teaching audio or source document. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
